Posted on 06/02/2003 4:02:04 PM PDT by fightinJAG
Bush asks panel to help prevent closure of military bases
By RON WORD Associated Press Writer
Gov. Jeb Bush declared Monday that Florida is "openly and unabashedly pro-miliatry" as he urged a panel of military and business leaders to protect the state's bases from the next round of closures in 2005.
Bush said the 17-member committee needs to show the importance of state bases to the national defense so that none of the 21 military bases and three military unified commands are closed.
The committee, which met in Jacksonville, should create "a climate to expand the military missions on our bases, rather than see them contract through the (base realignment closure) process in 2005," Bush said.
Florida's military and defense-related industries create a $30 billion industry, the third-largest economic sector behind tourism and agriculture.
Bush said a big issue in the upcoming decision about bases is how a state treats its military personnel.
"We are military friendly. We have been working to make sure that service men and women are treated well with respect to our laws," Bush said.
U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, a Florida Republican who is a member of the military construction subcommittee of the Armed Forces Committee, told the group they need to emphasize the importance of Florida's military bases.
"We have to make our case that these assets we have in Florida are strategic and vital to national security and they are also vital from the local economic standpoint," Crenshaw said.
Crenshaw said the committee helps put Florida ahead in fighting to save its military bases, although many other states have created similar committees.
Four subcommittees formed Monday will look at bases in the state, develop a communications plan, lobby officials in Washington and work with consultants to understand the criteria which will be used to determine which bases will be closed and which will be realigned.
The secretary of defense must submit his list of recommended closings and realignments to the Base Realignment Closure Commission by May 16, 2005. The commission must submit its decisions to the president by Sept. 8, 2005. Congress then must approve or reject the president's list without change.
Florida is home to the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, responsible for U.S. military activities in the Middle East and particularly the Persian Gulf region, and the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, which oversees U.S. military activity in Central and South America and in the Caribbean region.
Among the state's most recent losses, Cecil Field Naval Air Station in Jacksonville was closed in 1999 and the Orlando Naval Training Center, a Navy boot camp, closed in 1998.
Bush said the state has worked to prepare for the review, spending more than $15 million in defense infrastructure since 1999 and working with the military branches to increase their joint-use of current training ranges in Florida.
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